Characterized by a one-piece metal or ceramic tub, a shower head of fixed height, ceramic tiles affixed directly to the walls above the tub, and typically a soap dish protruding from one of its walls, the standard bathing unit found in most homes exhibits numerous limitations.
Perhaps the most significant limitation of the standard tub is that its design is inflexible. Particularly, the design of the standard unit fails to account for the fact that bathing preferences (including aesthetic tastes) and needs vary greatly among bathers depending on locomotive ability, age, size, cognitive ability, independence, tastes, and many other factors. The standard unit also fails to account for the fact that primary users of the unit will change over time, for example when home ownership is transferred. The standard unit still further fails to account for the fact that preferences (including aesthetic tastes) and needs of users will change over time. As a result of these failures, embodiments of the standard unit cannot be modified efficiently without introduction of complex procedures. Often, modifying the standard bathing unit involves the costly process of destroying and rebuilding an entire bathing unit wall, or, alternatively, precariously mounting a specialized adaptation which dangerously crowds the bathing area.
Many problems with the standard bathing unit are problems encountered subjectively by persons falling within a specialized classification of users. For example, persons having limited locomotive ability have difficulty in surmounting the tub wall of the standard unit upon ingress or egress, and generally have difficulty maintaining their balance within and in moving about the standard tub. They further encounter difficulty in moving between a seated and standing position within a standard bathing unit. Finally, since they are more susceptible to falling, persons having limited locomotive ability are especially prone to injury resulting from bodily contact with blunt objects rigidly protruding from the wall of a standard unit, including soap dishes and water faucets.
Aged persons, who often also fall into the classification of users having limited locomotive ability, find that the lighting of the standard bathing unit does not suit their needs. For the aged, available bathing units either are too dimly lit, to the extent that articles or equipment are insufficiently illuminated, or else the standard units have excessive overhead lighting, which reportedly creates for aged persons an emotionally stressful environment.
The standard unit is unsuitable for persons requiring assistance in bathing as well. Specifically, the standard unit includes no features or adaptations designed for the benefit of caregivers to bathers needing assistance. Consequently, caregivers have limited access to persons requiring assistance, and their lack of support, comfort, and mobility about and within a standard tub undermines the quality of care they are able to provide.
Efforts to address these and other limitations and problems in the past have been narrow in scope. Prior art references that teach improvements in bathtub/shower bathing units have for the most part concerned only slight modifications of the standard bathing unit design and have generally addressed only a single adaptation or feature of bathing units.
A number of prior art references related to improved bathing units, for example, teach improved means for ingress to and egress from a bathtub by persons having limited locomotive ability. U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,187 teaches an inwardly-opening bathtub door having an inflatable seal inflated and deflated as required based on the output of water-level sensors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,935 teaches an inwardly-opening bathtub door that engages a stopping surface of a tub opening such that pressure on a resilient but non-inflatable seal interposed between the door and the wall is increased as the tub is filled. U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,247 meanwhile, teaches an outwardly-opening tub door having a lip that engages a recess formed in a tub opening. The door further has lifting means for engaging and disengaging the lip with the recess. A much different approach to improving ingress and egress to and from a tub is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,018. There, a bathtub is disclosed having a circular door that is rotatable from a first position providing an entrance and a second position defining an enlarged sealed bathtub.
Other prior art references related to bathing units teach various bathtub seats and lift mechanisms. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,889,304 and 3,381,317 disclose bathtub seats which are pivotable from a position outside a tub to a position inside, and which may be lowered to a position beneath the tub's water level. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,090,068 and 3,875,597 teach of bath seats which may be firmly positioned on a bathtub but which may be removed when desired. U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,668 describes a bath seat fixedly attached to a bathtub wall which may be folded out of the way of a bather when necessary.
Still other references teach improved shower means. U.S. Pat. No. 3,579,668, for example, teaches a hand shower having a digital display for displaying water temperature. Meanwhile, U.S. Pat. No. 4,360,159 discloses an adjustable shower head including means for manual adjustment of the height of said shower head.
References describing complete bathing units teach of structures which may be transported in a disassembled condition and assembled at the location of installation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,201 discloses a pre-cast shower stall assembly comprising a plurality of interconnecting and interfitting parts, including means for sealing those parts and means for firmly fixing the shower into a wall space. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,619 describes a bathtub/shower bathing unit having a plurality of interfitting parts, the unit being designed such that certain parts thereof are attachable directly to the interior wall studs of a building. References that describe bathing units comprising multiple interfitting parts teach that the benefit of such modularity is that the modular design simplifies installation of such bathing units. The references do not teach or suggest, however, that flexibility, functionality, or maintainability of bathing units may benefit from a modular multi-part design.
As mentioned, prior art references related to bathing units tend to concentrate on a single feature or adaptation of the standard unit. The approach of the present invention runs counter to that of the prior art in that it approaches problems associated with bathing holistically. The present invention sets forth to provide a bathing unit which can be adapted to resolve the multitude of problems outlined above.
More particularly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a frame for receiving bathing equipment panels, the panels being custom-installed on the frame in accordance with the preferences and needs of its intended primary users.
Insofar as the bathing unit is customizable to meet a broad range of specialized needs, it is an inherent and further objective of the invention to provide a bathing unit which is configurable to meet the needs of specialized classifications of users including persons having limited locomotive ability, aged persons, and persons requiring assistance in bathing.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a bathing unit comprising multiple interfitting, preplumbed and prewired parts designed as such to simplify the unit's installation.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a bathing unit whose features can be easily modified as its users, or the needs or preferences of its users change.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a bathing unit which can be adapted to aesthetic tastes of its users, and which can be subsequently modified aesthetically as its users or the tastes of its users change.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become clear in the ensuing detailed description.